The Art of Logic in an Illogical World

The author explains the importance of abstraction in logic, demonstrating its three main components: paths made of long chains of logic, packages made of a collection of concepts structured into a new compound unit, and pivots to build bridges to previously disconnected places.

Eugenia Cheng does an excellent job of abstracting principles of logic to better understand challenging real-world societal issues such as affirmative action and cancer screening. I found it quite compelling to understand how and why she came to her positions on various issues, through her axiom that "avoiding false negatives is more important than avoiding false positives."… show more.

What is the connection between Category Theory and the social structures of white privilege? Or between Venn diagrams and U.S. immigration policy? If you are like me you probably never thought there was a connection. But in The Art of Logic in an Illogical World Eugenia Cheng shows otherwise. Because when properly applied, she argues, even seemingly esoteric mathematical fields can reveal the hidden logic in the world around us.

Cheng is a research mathematician at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and she believes that mathematics has much to teach us about how to understand the world,… show more.